Oxford City Council gains graduates' support for net zero plans

The Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), which operates in central southern England and the north of Scotland, is allocating graduates to help local authorities accelerate their environmental goals.

In the coming months, the SSEN graduates will collaborate with teams from six local authorities.

Kennedy Josiah, an SSEN graduate (Image: SSEN)

Each of these councils already have assistance from a group of net zero engagement specialists, whose help will continue alongside the graduates.

SSEN’s new tool, LENZA (Local Energy Net Zero Accelerator), will help to develop Local Area Energy Plans.

These plans lay out the changes and resources needed to bring about net zero.

The graduates' work will allow SSEN to test the tool’s functionality in real-world situations, while also helping to develop local authorities’ own insights and inform their forthcoming planning decisions.

The graduates include Faruq Lawal, Md Moontasir Rashid, and Kennedy Josiah.

Faruq Lawal (Image: SSEN)

Mr Lawal has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s in Energy Engineering.

Mr Rashid has a Dual Master’s Degree focused on energy engineering and smart grids. He is currently involved in the testing and development of LENZA.

Meanwhie, Mr Josiah holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and is in his second year of SSEN’s graduate programme.

He sees his involvement as a chance to design and develop efficient, sustainable distribution models that can meet the needs of communities.

Winchester City Council, West Sussex County Council, Wiltshire Council, The Highland Council, Southampton City Council, as well as Oxford City Council, will receive assistance from SSEN graduates.

Sarah Kerr, one of SSEN’s net zero engagement specialists, and graduate programme coordinator, said: "It’ll be great to see how our excellent group of graduates will both support our local authority stakeholders and put LENZA through its paces.

"Given how enthusiastic we are here at SSEN about supporting their work in this field, having our graduates supporting local decision-makers in this new way feels like an obvious step to add to the sector-leading work we already do.

"The LENZA tool is vital for providing the information and insights that will support local net zero planning in the near future.

"This is the first time we’ve offered this particular kind of support, so we’ll be assessing its effectiveness over the coming weeks.

“This programme will also give our brilliant graduates even more experience and insight at this critical stage in their careers. Their success and development is good news for all our net zero ambitions.”